


Survivors

by PaintbrushWonder



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death before story begins, Drake will not appear cause he be dead, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, No relationships at the moment sorry shippers, Not Beta Read, Riot questions what makes a "hero", Will Venom appear? Who knows?, Will add tags as I go, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 15:24:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17869793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintbrushWonder/pseuds/PaintbrushWonder
Summary: After the aftermath of the explosion, Eddie searched for Venom. After passing out, he woke up and found a Symbiote.It wasn't Venom, but the Symbiote was still very familiar.(Better than the summary implies. I just can't summary.)





	1. Prologue

Most people wouldn't wonder the beach side looking for a parasitic entity that lived in your body for two days. Most people would be relieved to have said entity dead. Most people would not be wishing they had died in the entity's place. Most people would not hold a small sliver of hope the entity lived.

Most people were not Eddie Brock.

Eddie wandered up and down the beach. The smell of salt invaded his nose and lightly stung his eyes. Deep bags hung beneath his bloodshot eyes. His eyes scanned for that familiar black goo. There was no sign of Ve- the entity. Eddie's footprints littered the sand in psychotic, criss-crossing patterns.

Eddie shivered as the oceanic wind blew against him. He shut his eyes, wrinkled his nose, and tried to make himself as small as possible as he put his back to the wind in hopes of feeling less of the chilly air. He opened his eyes when the wind ceased feeling drowsy. How long has it been since he slept? Eddie shook his head and soldiered onward determined to look for his friend.

Until he fell flat on his face and into deep unconsciousness.  
~~~  
Small. So small. Need to feed. Find food. Find shelter. Burning. Burning. Burning. Air is burning. Hungry.

Food? Food. Small. Better than nothing. Scaley. Delicate. Little food. Small brain. Small food. Hungry still.

Small. Need more food. Grow bigger. Grow stronger. Need host. Feed off host. Host? No. Too small. More food. Little food. Better than nothing food.

Smell. More small food. Big food. Potential host? Too far. Need more little food. Need more strength. Need to be bigger. Just feed. Feed on little food.

CRASH!

What? What was that? Water? Smash against me. Drag me from little food. Closer to potential host maybe? Tired now. Rest for a bit. Then approach potential host. So tired. Hurts so much. Burning air. Burning. Burning. Burning. Burning. Bur-

Silence.  
~~~  
When Eddie woke up, it was midnight, he still felt drowsy, but he pulled himself up slowly. Not so far away, he caught something glimmering. Too bright to be any type of plant. He crawled towards it.

In the dark, anyone could've mistaked it for black goo, but Eddie knew better. What lay in front of him was a Symbiote. Just not the one he bonded with.

The Symbiote was silver with reddish streaks. Their coloring was washed out and the shine was from water more than the natural shiny coating Symbiotes have. They were dying. Eddie should've let the Symbiote die. Let Riot die. For he killed Ve- the entity.

But seeing Riot lay there so helpless and dying, it made Eddie think back to the entity. How they were dead. And he could only imagine the entity in Riot's place. And instead of leaving Riot today, Eddie held out a tanned arm and scooped Riot up.

Riot was small and immediately began to try to run through Eddie's pores but was unable and hung limply in Eddie's palm. He spotted some shellfish near the shore and held Riot near them. The Symbiote quickly snapped up all the shellfish and Eddie kept bringing them towards different places that had groups of them.

Riot was big enough to cover Eddie's entire hand and they seeped through. Eddie shivered as he felt Riot enter his arm and crawl up in towards his shoulder.

Satisfied, Eddie headed towards his apartment ready to deal with the oncoming hunger. As soon as he got back, he raided his fridge of everything in it. His shoved his cabinets open and grabbed at chocolate bars and gobbled them up.

The hunger toned down for a short while, and Eddie spoke to Riot for the first time, "You can use my body for as long as you need as long as you promise not to eat it."

After a few moments of silence he asked, "Riot?"  
~~~  
"Riot?"

The vocal cowards shivered as Riot made his slow ascend to the brain. Using the vertabrae as a ladder, climbed up the host's neck to his skull. They seeped through the split between the mandible and the cranium and floated towards the brain. They attached to the top of the skull and sent tendrils into the cerebrum and deep into the brain connecting with different ports. They filtered through the host's memories humming to themselves.

Eddie Brock. The one who hosted Venom. What are the odds?

And Brock saved them from their own death which meant that they would have to repay the debt. Riot internally groaned.

"Brock," they spoke with dignity and pride as if they hadn't just been on the brink of death, "It seems I owe you a debt. You saves my life. I will protect yours until the debt is paid."

"Oh- okay then?" Confusions was sent through the brain in waves.

Riot headed back down the vertebral column keeping strings of themself in the brain. They curled themselves around the cranium and dripped onto the scapula.

If Riot could sigh, they would. Instead they sent hunger across the small bond. Humour answered it.

Riot hissed, "What's so funny about hunger?"

"Nothing," thoughts of Venom's complaints about being hungry entered Brock's brain and compared them to Riot's demand for food.

Riot bristled, "I'm nothing like that loser!"

Hurt sparked through as Brock physically winced, "I know." His voice was soft and mournful.

Riot scoffed, "The idiot's dead. Get over it. Everybody dies eventually."

Stillness. Not a single response from Brock. Riot shifted on the clavicle and pulled themselves off of the scapula slightly. Brock began to lay out strange-looking brown cubes on a tray.

"What are those?" Riot asked.

Eddie was silent for a moment before responding, "Tater tots."

"Are they food?"

"Yes," Eddie said monotonously, "They're made out of potatoes."

"Are these 'potatoes' a meat?" Riot questioned, for they didn't smell like it.

"No," Eddie shrugged, "They're a plant."

"How high is it in phenylethylamine?" Riot asked, "I need phenylethylamine to live."

"Uh," Eddie wracked his brain, "I'll google it while these cook." He popped the tater tots in a small box and pressed some buttons. The box began to glow red-orange, and he reached for a small rectangular device. Eddie hit a few buttons and scrolled, "It's not very high, but it's better than nothing."

Riot remained silent. What had they gotten themselves into?


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riot is curious, and Eddie is a human disaster.

For the next three days, Riot went in and out of consciousness. They only spoke to demand food when Brock forgot to feed them.

Which happened... a lot.

Riot noticed Brock spent a lot of his time on a laptop typing up documents and of some kind. Every time Riot went out of conscious, Brock was in the damn thing. They would feel Brock's own hunger and need for sleep, but he never acted upon it.

On the fourth day, Riot was irritated by it enough to ask about it, "Has anyone told you you're shit at taking care of yourself?"

Brock paused typing, "Well good morning to you too, Sleeping Beauty."

"I am Riot not Sleeping Beauty," Riot grumbled looking at the time at the bottom of the computer, "and it's 3:46 in the afternoon."

"Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale character associated with deep sleeping," Brock explained with a shrug, "and to answer your question, yes I have been told that. Many times."

Riot made a mental note to check Brock's memories for this 'Sleeping Beauty' later, "Then why do you not pay attention to your body's demands? It is tired and hungry. If someone has told you that you suck at taking care of your body, wouldn't you monitor your needs further?"

"That's a hard question to answer," Brock scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Some humans have an issue with keeping track of time. I suffer from that. Majorly. Not everyone's internal alarm clock works smoothly."

"Humans have alarm clocks in them?" Riot glanced down the pectoralis major.

Brock laughed, "No, we don't. It's a metaphor."

Riot shifted back on their normal spot on the clavicle, "What even is it that's making you lose focus on time?"

"Sueing the Life Foundation," Brock replied, "Need the money especially since I have to feed you."

Riot uncaringly said, "Just steal it."

Brock's eyes snapped open and his nostrils flared wide, "What?! No! I'm not gonna steal!"

Riot made a small annoyed noise, "Would you if you were starving?"

"If I had too," Brock rolled his eyes, "but I have food in the fridge and cabinets."

Riot snarled and sent a wave of hunger, "Then get it!"

Brock groaned standing up and walking to the kitchen; he opened the fridge, "Well, what do you want?"

Riot moved Brock's hands to grab at a whole raw slab of t-bone steak. They took control of him and began to tear into the food ('like a desperate, starving animal,' Riot heard Brock think). Bits of the steak flew clung to Brock's face, so once Riot was done, Riot manifested their tongue and licked the bits off. After they was finished, Brock's tongue returned to normal and gave him back control.

Brock wrinkled his face in disgust as he wiped the spit off, "Are you still hungry?"

"Yes," Riot replied, "but that helped a little bit."

"Can you manifest your head?" Brock asked.

Riot floated up to the skin behind the scapula. They clung to the side of it, and they sent a tentacle towards it slowly coming out through the pores and the fibers of Brock's shirt. The burning air hit them, but the burn wasn't burning anymore. It was simply warm and an annoying feeling. Their head began to form at the end of the tentacle, a large bulb at first. There was a split for their mouth full of sharp teeth, and Riot opened their eyes.

"Yes," Riot hissed in Brock's ear. Their form was small and weak, but at least they could do it.

Brock looked at them and smiled softly, "You're a lot less intimidating in this form."

Riot hissed, "Still scary."

That earned them a disbelieving look, "Here's two chocolate bars. I have to continue working. You can eat these."

Riot manifested another tentacle that branched into two. They grabbed the two chocolate bars and took a big bite of one, wrapper and all.

Brock blinked, "You do know you're supposed to remove the wrapper, right?"

Riot chewed a bit more and separates the wrapper from the chocolate. They spit it out on the ground then began to peel the wrapper off the rest of the chocolate bar and dumped it on the ground.

Brock sighed, and he picked up the trash with two fingers holding back a gag. He tossed it in the garbage then went to the sink and washed his hands.

In that time spam, Riot finished the first chocolate bar and was starting to unwrap the second. They were about to throw it on the floor when Brock took of from them and threw it away. Riot nibbled on the chocolate bar and glared at him.

"Don't give me that look. You should've thrown away your trash in the first place."  
~~~  
Riot woke up the next time for a reason that wasn't hunger. It was adrenaline. Brock was heavily breathing as he tucked around the corner of a building. His back slammed into it as he silenced his breaths and his in the shadows.

Riot skimmed through Brock's memories anxiously trying to figure out what was wrong and if they were in danger. Both froze as a figure in black ran by the alley toting a pistol.

"What the fuck was that?" Riot demanded.

Brock winced, "A shooter. I managed to piss him off. It's a special talent of mine."

"Pissing shooters off?"

"I meant people in general, and that does fall under the category, so yeah I am."

"What are you doing now?" Riot asked morphing a head to peak around the corner of the alley.

"Get back! People could see you," Brock hissed tugging on the line that connected him and Riot, "and I am hiding at their moment. Something you're trying to blow."

Riot rolled their eyes and wrapped themselves around Brock's neck, "I could have eaten him."

"I don't doubt that, Tough Guy," Brock snarked, "But you would need to be able to be conscious for that. And probably a bit bigger."

Riot smacked him with a tendril, "Rude!"

Brock grinned at them, "I aim to please~"

Riot snorted before slinking back into Brock. They curled up on his clavicle when they realised, they had felt enjoyment.

Their immediate thought was, 'Brock must never know.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To explain sort of why Eddie is being not very snarky to Riot, it's because he doesn't fully trust Riot not to harm him out of anger. He is very aware of what Riot to do, so he's being kinda careful.
> 
> Word Count: 1045


	3. Chapter 2

Since the last time Riot woke up, they remained awake. Eddie was glad they were okay, but, well-

Riot was an asshole.

Eddie knew this already, but Riot bitched constantly. This was wrong or that was wrong. Drake's this was bigger or that of Drake's was of higher quality. Eddie's patience for the Symbiot was wearing thin.

Eddie knew that if given the chance, Riot would not hesitate to snap Eddie's neck. He was pretty sure they were using him as a ride even if they claimed it was for "a debt". He had been careful to not piss Riot off, held his tongue, tried not to be offence, had a patience of steel. But Eddie finally snapped.

He forgot what even made him lose it, but Eddie slammed the pan on the counter with a loud BANG! It was dead silent after.

"What was tha-"

"Shut up," Eddie deeply sighed, "Just. Shut up." He crumpled down on the floor and hid his head in his hands.

A small ticklish feeling coming from his shoulder was the tell-tale sign Riot manifested a piece of themselves, "Brock."

It was familiar- too familiar. He stiffend more and curled into himself battling the anger and anxiety chasing each other around. So he ignored the Symbiote poking and prodding underneath his skin. Ignored their deep voice trying to catch his attention.

"Brock, why-"

"I'M NOT DRAKE, OKAY?!" Eddie screamed uncurling from his position his eyes glaring at the silver Symbiote, "I DON'T HAVE MONEY AND FOOD JUST LAID AROUND!"

Riot recoiled hissing as they screeched back, "WHY DON'T YOU?! YOU AND DRAKE WERE SIMILAR ENOUGH! ARROGANT, STUBBORN, AMBITIOUS, AND BENT THE RULES! AT LEAST DRAKE KNEW WHEN TO TREAT SOMEONE WITH RESPECT!"

Eddie began shaking as a tight pain in his chest began to squeeze, "Why couldn't you be less murder-y? That way someone who could meet all the demands you have could host you. I'm not- I didn't expect to have an alien sharing a body with me. And that alien to have a gigantic appetite. I'm stressed and- why am I telling you this? You don't care."

"We could always go hunting," Riot hummed, "Brains are so full of delicious chemicals."

Eddie glared at them, "We're not eating people."

"Venom could but I can't? Rude."

"I never approved of that," Eddie pointed out, "and most of who was eaten tried to hurt one of us first. Self defense."

"Self defense," Riot mocked, "Wouldn't eating people be self-defense if it kept me from starving?"

"That's not really how it works-"

"It's technically not cannibalism. I'm not human."

Eddie sighed, "Let's put a pin in that conversation."

"How does one put a pi-"

"We'll discuss it later," Eddie interrupted, "Don't you require enough mass to form over me to hunt? And do you have enough for that?"

Riot's expression was thoughtful for a minute. They sunk back into Eddie for a moment before silver pushed out of his pores and covered him. Their bulky form stretched until they covered Eddie's body but only barely were they able to go into this form. Eddie winced slightly at the small amount of pain and exhaustion that was accidently sent down there bond.

"Yes," Riot eventually replied.

"But barely," Eddie added on, "Are you sure you'd be fine like this? Barely covering? It feels almost like you'll fall off any second."

Riot barked, "I'm fine! Just hungry!"

"We have a bay. Maybe you could hunt fish there to build up your strength?" Eddie said trying to direct Riot away from eating people.

They only hummed before opening the window end crawling out closing the window silently behind them. Eddie felt then rumage around for the location of the bay, and they began to crawl to the edge of the building after. They leaped to the next building, Riot's claws hooking deep into the buildings to catch them, and they climbed up slightly to the roof and began to sprint to the edge to leap to the next building. Eddie winced every time trying not to think of how high they were. They did this process until they saw the bay.

Riot leaped down on the ground and began to crawl towards the railing. They froze as they stared into the murky water.

"Why'd you stop?"

Riot shivered slightly, "Just reminds me if the explosion is all. Mostly burning." They leaped over the rail and dove into the water with a large SPLASH!

Eddie could feel the cold water through Riot's skin (goop?). He shivered slightly. Being in this form felt wrong and awkward. He ignored it and watched Riot go after fish and other sea animals that had been unfortunate enough to have swam in Riot's range of senses. Riot's mass grew bigger and bigger and covered Eddie less tightly.  
~~~  
Eventually, they crawled out the water, and they heard a shriek. Riot blinking uncaringly preparing to climb and leap back to Brock's apartment while Brock urged them to go look for it.

"If a bad person is causing the scream, you can eat them," he promised.

Riot grinned in content and followed the shrieking. They climbed and jumped from building to building and laughed interally at Brock's discomfort of it. They reached an alley and began to climb down. A human with a gun was beating a little human with the bottom of it.

"Eat the grown man but don't let-"

Riot grabbed the man and bit off his head. Brock's sigh reverberated within Riot. They turned to the little boy who was stating at them with wide eyes.

"Who are you, Sir?"

"I am called Riot," they replied stiffly.

The child was beaming up at them, "You're really cool, Mr. Riot! Thank you for saving me!" He then skipped out the alley and turned the corner.

Riot stared after him in awe. The child was unafraid even when he saw them eat a man. The child called them cool. Riot fought back a silly grin.

Children were okay they supposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this seems rushed ack I know I tend to do that. I also wrote this very sleep-deprived :')
> 
> Riot has a soft spot of children no matter the race and you can fite me on that
> 
> Word Count: 1005


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riot questions what a "hero" truly is.

Humans slept a lot.

Like- a lot a lot.

Riot hated this.

They could only spend so little time exploring the human body before boredom got the best of them.

Riot formed outside of their current host and looked at his face. Scraggly hairs covered his face and deep bags hung underneath his eyes. His face was calm and peaceful, and his lips were slightly parted. They blinked and carefully reached out another tendril to touch his face. As soon as they felt his warm skin on their cool body they immediately hid the tendril back in Brock's body and ducked down slightly back in the body. Brock scratched the side of his face sleepily and mumbled slightly but didn't wake up.

Riot peeked back up and looked at the bigger screen that Brock would occasionally lounge near and watch. They floated over and searched their hosts memories for how to turn it on. Riot found the remote and hit the play button and the screen came to life. A woman was on screen and words vibrated through the speakers. They stared at the screen as they absorbed the information.

Riot watched and watched and watched. They didn't even notice it was morning and Brock had woken up; they just kept watching.

"You watchin' the news?" Brock asked them hopping on the couch causing it to dip.

Riot looked at him and quickly searched Brock's memories for what "news" was. Brock shoved the definition forward and Riot nodded, "Yes."

Riot focused on the TV again, "-view with a kid who said he was saved by 'a large man in silver' and 'Antman is no longer the only hero in the San Fransisco area'. More coming after the break."

"You must've made quite the impression on him," Brock hummed thoughtfully.

"Hero," Riot murmered, "What is a hero?"

They began looking through Brock's mind until they felt Brock shove them out, "Hey. Don't do that." He bit his lip and thought for a moment, A hero- a hero is someone who helps people usually in larger ways. Heroes do not hesitate to put their life on the line to save another. A hero is someone people look up to- for guidence, for inspiration, for assistance. People like the Avengers or Antman. They are heroes."

Riot huffed, "They also fail you. Again and again and again."

"You had heroes where you were from?" Brock asked in surprise.

"Sort of," their mind flashed to a hint of black but they shook it away. Those days had been over a long time ago, "Younger Klyntar tended to look up to their parent or elders."

"Parent? As in only one? And is a Klyntar what you are?"

"We reproduce asexually," Riot huffed, "And we are called Klyntar, yes."

"Who was your parent?"

A flash of black and disappointment, "No one."

"They were no one."  
~~~  
They looked down at the glittering world below them. They could feel Brock's fear in waves, but that didn't disturb them as they looked at the ground below hypnotized by all the small, bright lights.

'They liked this view too,' it was a small thought that came from Brock and would be barely noticeable except it was the only thought with no terror surrounding it.

This planet- Earth- was interesting. A mix of ugliness and beauty coming together into a swirling sphere of painful air and idiotic life. But even the life had its charms. They made for fun play things, good snacks, and when young, were... cute.

Brock's definitions of a hero would occasionally cut through their thoughts. The little human called them "a hero". All they wanted at this point was to go home, yet was that even possibly at this point? As soon as they got back to Klyntar, they would be executed for failing the mission. Riot snorted. They guessed failing runs in the family.

They focused back on the hustling and bustling of the world below. To them Venom was a hero- even if humanity didn't know it. They saved humanity from Klyntar. But to Klyntar that made Venom a villian.

Do heroes truly exsist? To some a hero may just be a villian and a villian may be a hero. What makes someone a "hero" is a matter of perspective and bias. The lights below blurred and it became very reminiscent of rain.  
~~~  
A silver tentacle uncurled and peaked out of its hiding place. They felt droplets drop on their form, and they reeled it back quickly like they had been burn. Noticing they had not been in pain, the young Klyntar poked their tentacle our again.

Confusion and content emotions prodded the young Klyntar.

They curled their tentacle back to them and focused their attention on the larger, jet black streaked with silver Klyntar. They sent a peaceful and content feeling to the older one in reply.

The older Klyntar gripped a tentacle of the younger and pushed it out with them into the rain. Joy waved over the two.

Anger smacked the two and they drew their tentacles back in. A violet Klyntar with maroon streaks bristled at the older one sending negative and angry emotions at them.

The older Klyntar responded with stubbornness and curiosity.

The two went back and forth trading tainted, negative emotions and their teeth baring at one another. Their tentacle began raising threatening the other. The older Klyntar kept a tentacle behind their back for the younger one to grip onto.

The younger one his behind their older Klyntar and sent scared and confused messages. The older sent distracted calming emotions back.

Finally with a final sting of negative feelings, the violet Klyntar left the two alone. Parental concern thundered on the younger as the older checked them.

They had made a mistake. Mistakes were not tolerated on Klyntar.  
~~~  
Riot blinked as the memory faded.

"Is Venom your parent?"

Riot screeched in shock and anger slipping on the roof before composing themself, "They were. A long time ago."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter made my head hurt. It was a bitch to do.
> 
> Word Count: 1002

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first AO3 fic and Venom fic! I hope I do these characters justice :D
> 
> I'm always open to critique and do not be afraid to point out grammer errors, spring errors, or any errors you see in general.
> 
> I personally loved Venom a bunch. My biggest complaint is Riot didn't have much of a personality, so I'm giving them one. These are mostly headcanons about them, and I am just going off the movie verse since I know nothing about the comics.
> 
> Word Count: 1067


End file.
